I have been asked on a few occasions for some kind of an outline on what to eat on a daily basis. I came across this in one of my cookbooks and wanted to share it with you. I was planning to log what I have been doing on a daily basis, but I believe God is calling me to fast and pray concerning what He is doing in my own heart. The things that I share with you in the teaching section are new to me as well. I am learning and healing right along with you. So, I’ll write what I found in my book to hopefully help you to eat raw and stay raw :)
The first thing she talks about is eating MORE…not less to reduce weight. A lot of us want to lose weight to be fit, some of us need to gain…remember the section on what to add to your diet to gain necessary weight…So, today we will concentrate on losing. So far I have lost about 20 pounds…I have about 20 to go I think.
Side note for a second…youngest son just popped his head in the office where I am typing and said… “Hey Mom…you know what?” I stopped typing and asked him “What”…he went on… “80% of boys have girl friends, the other 20% have brains!” I love that kid!
So…eating more to lose weight…a new concept for me…She says to add a piece of fruit or a serving of vegetables rather than a full entrée.
Second tip is to start exercising. Walk, get on that treadmill you begged your husband for and never use anymore, if your husband has weights, start lifting a little bit. Don’t go and work out for an hour the first day! Just a few min a few times a day…till you reach muscle exhaustion….means your legs are so tired you can’t take another step… For me that’s all of 2 min as fast as I can on my stair stepper. It says I burned 20 calories…not a whole lot, but if I manage to do it 5 times in a day it adds up. I also put it right in the middle of my foyer so I have to walk by it all day…I am more apt to actually USE it! I have to admit that I do hang my coat on it sometimes…it’s handy :)
This is a basic outline. If you don’t have oranges, but you do have bananas (which I have a ton of :) ) eat bananas! Or whatever else you like. This is to give you an idea of what to do. I personally don’t want to eat too many nuts or use too much oil in my salad dressing because I still want to reduce. Nuts are what comes to mind when I’m hungry…it helps to have something like this handy so you can remember the bananas in those times instead of another handful of nuts.
Breakfast…some kind of smoothie…remember to put the handful of greens in it!
Snack…3 or 4 pieces of any fruit
Lunch…large salad…mix it up each day…different dressing, different ingredients, add some avocado one day and a handful of nuts the next then skip the fat all together the third day…make it interesting.
Snack…2 or 3 pieces of fruit
Dinner…make a raw entrée if you’d like or have a different kind of salad like a Kale Salad.
Snack…have fun with this one and have a raw dessert, but only 1 or 2 pieces so as not to overload your system in the evening. Just enough to satisfy that sweet tooth.
There you have what would be a typical day of food…it’s a lot to be sure and some days you’ll probably want all of it, some days you won’t want so much. Learn to listen to your body. Once all the junk is purged out you’ll be able to “hear” what your body needs…not what your cravings want. Your body will “tell” you what nutrients it needs.
For those chocolate cravings?? (you are more than likely needing potassium, magnesium and zinc…supplements are ok, but chocolate is way better!!!) If you don’t want to make the coconut macaroon cookies (my favorite) then I made a really good hot chocolate, by accident really. Take about 2 heaping tbs of regular cocoa powder (raw cocoa powder tastes more like coffee…cool…I REALLY miss my café lattes!!!) So, back to the hot cocoa…2 heaping tbs of cocoa, about 4 tbs of agave syrup, a tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. You should have enough agave in the mix to make a syrup…add warm water and enjoy…this will make one of my huge coffee cups…most of you have seen them…they are the biggest coffee cups they sell I think :)
I hope this helps….
To heat up a dish so it’s still raw without using the microwave…
Take a large pot and fill it with hot water. Put it on the stove…take a smaller pan that will fit inside the first one (basically a double boiler). Stir gently but constantly so it doesn’t get too hot… The hot water will heat your food up to a warm temp without over-heating anything :)
Don’t ever use a microwave! The microwave radiation changes the molecular make up of the food you are heating to such a degree that your body no longer can use it or even recognize it as food!!
I have been asked where to get some of the less common items. We have been able to find all of the ingredients of the recipes I have posted between Hannaford and Peter’s Cornucopia.
Here are some of our findings:
Nuts are cheaper at Peter’s.
We cannot find raw chocolate…what’s raw does not resemble chocolate… We have just been using regular baking cocoa when a recipe calls for chocolate.
Pine nuts are of questionable origin. Hannaford has some in a small package that says they are grown someplace other than China, but most sources are either silent or say they are from China. We use them sparingly… besides they are very expensive.
Macadamia nuts are another tough one to find… they are really expensive too and we mostly avoid them. Usually you can use cashews instead and it tastes fine.
We also have mixed what ever nut is called for in a recipe half and half with sunflower seeds… this also works well and cuts the cost considerably.
Light agave syrup (the only one Hannaford sells) isn’t raw. Only the dark agave is. Peter’s has the dark and if you buy the large bottle it’s cheaper than Hannaford.
You can get most of the grains that are called for in Peters. You know they are raw if they sprout.
If anyone has a specific question, please feel free to ask… we’ll see if we can find the answer.
When you buy fruit from the store, a lot of times it is unripe. No problem… take your unripe fruit and put it in a brown paper bag, put a ripe banana in the bag and fold it, leaving it out on the counter. Within a day or two you’ll have nice ripe fruit!
When you use kale in a raw recipe there is an easy way to make it more palatable and less chewy.
1. Remove the stems and lay your kale leaf on your cutting board.
2. When you have 5 or so leaves stacked on top of each other, roll the pile into a cigar shaped roll, as tightly as possible.
3. With your knife, cut the roll into very thin strips. This is called a chiffonade cut… fancy French name. :) Now your kale is in thin ribbons.
4. Put your ribbons into the bowl and, with your hands, massage the kale till water is releases from the leaves. This means it is becoming tender.
5. Continue until the kale is nice and wilted and has reduced size (you started out with a whole bowl, now you have 1/3 of a bowl).
6. Proceed with your recipe and you’ll have nice, tender kale that no one will believe isn’t steamed!
Now take your knife and cut the avocado into a checkerboard or a tic tac toe board, being careful not to cut through the skin to cut your hand.
Take a spoon and scoop out the avocado… it’s already chopped for you… and there is no mess. :)